It began with a kiss (Completed)

Chapter - 19 Think before you speak!

"I thought he was in a relationship with you." She said finally.

With those words out from her mouth Alex lost his laugh. The small cabin which was earlier echoing with his laughter now became very quiet. He looked at her with wide eyed expression.

"No wonder his grandmother was asking me all those strange questions. Eva! what in the world gave you idea that I was involved with him!?"

"In all his photos that are available on internet there was no woman that shared the same frame as with him. They were either of his solo or with you. So... I thought that...that you and Mr Richardson...well you know-''

"No! I don't know! I still can't understand any of this." He said throwing his hands in the air in a resigning expression. ''No  wonder he was mad at you. Even I am mad at you now."
He got up from his seat and said,"I am going to my office. You just stay here and reply whatever mails are there and review the remaining files. No need to report about anything to me in my cabin.  I'll give you a call if  I need your help ."With that he left.

"Great Eva! Now even Alex is mad at you.  But how did I manage to fall in one trouble after another?'' she once again rested her head on the table and sighed. "God, I am ruined."

She heard a Knock at the door. She got  up quickly, thinking it would be Alex but no this time it was Liam Richardson who at the moment was looking grave and gloomy.

"G-Good morning, Mr Richardson." she almost stammered.
He looked at her but didn't reply. His famous intimidating expression was still on.

"Bring me my coffee." with that order he left.

She went to the self help to prepare his coffee - no milk no sugar. It was bitter. Just like him, she realised. How much she wanted to just stay here at the self help or maybe spend her entire life standing there. At least it was better than  facing the wrath of Liam Richardson. But  escaping from the adjacent wasn't  possible and she was sure that even if she tried he would drag her back to him.

She finally mustered her courage and walked to CEO's office. She knocked at the door and entered. He looked busy with the pile of files that he was working upon. She placed his coffee cup on the table.

He made no visible attempt of picking up that cup of coffee and she was certainly in no mood to reheat or redo the cup of coffee again. So she feigned a cough so as to attract his attention.

" I know you are here, Ms Rose." he said. Finally putting the pen on the file he placed his elbows on the table and resting his chin on his hands he looked at her from top to bottom.

She wondered if he was sizing up his prey, that is her, and calculating how much time it would take for him to kill her and dispose her body...'Stop it Eva! he will not do that and he made that quite clear last night. God! I am going crazy.'

"If you don't need anything else then I'll lea-"

"No."said Liam interrupting her. He rested back on his chair placing his right ankle on his left knee he started playing with a pen between his fingers as he continued,"I want you to complete all your work by 12:00 noon and then I want you to leave-"

"Are you going to fire me?" she interrupted looking clearly shocked.

"Miss Rose, do you ever let other people speak?"

" I am sorry. Please continue."

"After 12 you will go down to the parking area. There you will meet my driver and there will be a lady too waiting for you. You have to go with them."

Eva was shocked and her eyes mirrored that expression when she asked,"Are going to murder me? Or making me sell your drugs or are you going to sell me to human traffickers now that I have annoyed you."

"Heavens sent you down to test my patience I guess, Miss Rose." He was looking irritated now.

If it weren't for his menacing voice she would have taken that as a compliment.

"Do you think that I need to rely on such means to make money?" He asked looking clearly exasperated.
"As for killing you, I made myself clear last night that I have no such intentions. I make my money by investing in properties. I buy them, make them and sell them."

"Oh..." Eva felt guilty.

" Now tell me which damned book you read last night?"

"Er... I couldn't sleep so I read the story of a girl who worked in a big company whose CEO turned out to be a mafia. And when he realised that she knows about his illegal business he used her in selling drugs and sold her in the end. The story ends there but I guess there should be a sequel too," she was now talking to her self out loud. Again! She completely forgot the fact that Liam was still there as she continued,"she should come back to take revenge. I feel bad for her. Poor she."

Liam just sat there looking at her. Speechless. He still could not decide how to deal with this girl in front of him. But now he was sure that the few lines he had read in that diary last night were definitely the seed of her imagination. She maybe likes to write, he realised.  Which means she spends half of her time daydreaming , imagining and deciding on what to write next. But hell! he had no intention of applying for the role of a Villainous Mafia in one of her books!

"Miss Rose, this is the last time I'm asking you nicely.  Would you please stop reading such damn books? And especially those related to crime mysteries, murder, drugs and trafficking."

"Ok. I apologize. I just expressed my thoughts about that bo-" her voice trailed off as she realised she was just fuming his anger.

"And it would be a great help if you could not involve me in your wild imaginations. Especially when they are related to crimes and murders and mafias!"

" I am really sorry. It's probably because I couldn't find much sleep during the past few weeks. I am hardly sleeping for 5 hours a day and was overthinking things and probably that's taking a toll on my brain and making my sleeping cycle so disturbed that I now have to use novels to put me to sleep."

"You read crime and murder mysteries before you go to sleep!?" he asked.

"This genre isn't bad either." she shrugged.

" I'll give you some self help books on how to be quite so that other people and their dignity could feel at ease. And for heaven's sake stop reading crime novels!"

"But-" she could feel from his voice that he was trying hard to keep his anger in check.

"And there's one more question I want to ask." He continued.

"Yes?" She looked at him frowning.

"Do you ever think before you speak, Miss Rose?"

"Of course, I do. However I'm not sure  what, how and why but whenever I am around you my mouth filter seems to be automatically turned off and I swear that has never happened to me ever before." She blurted out.

"So that means I intimidate you, Miss Rose?" Once again he relaxed into his seat.

"Huh. That would be an understatement. You intimidate every living thing on this planet! If you will look at a dog he will die of fright. If you will look at a bird it will stop flying and kill itself crashing on the ground-" she gasped and quickly covered her mouth when she realised that she was talking her thoughts out loud. Again!!